Saturday, May 31, 2014

Circles, Spots and Polka Dots 2014: The Process

The Artists

These "mini me" artists were all holding on to real balloons hanging around the art show. One child had suggested "our parents can try and find us."

Printing Circles with Paint

Each day we used a smaller container and a new color of paint to add circles to this collaborative painting. The only direction they were given was not to overlap the lines. Some of the preschoolers enjoyed putting circles inside other circles and others looked for the empty spaces in between. Printing the circles encouraged the children to move slowly and using planning in their artwork.

Redesigning the Wheel

The children were each given a section of the "pie" or "wheel" to paint however they wanted. The pieces were all put back together to create a group piece of art.

Individual Quilt Squares

For this project the children were pulled aside and asked "How do you want to decorate your square?" They got to choose what type of medium and materials they wanted to use to create circles on their square of paper. After they chose from paintbrushes, glue, printing, markers or whatever they could think up, they were asked for "their plan." The artists did not see each other's artwork until they were all finished. Lots of different methods were used and they were all displayed together.

Bright Dots on Black Paper

The children were given neon circle stickers, white reinforcement stickers and a half sheet of black cardstock. The different approaches were very fun to see. Some children did intentional patterns or rows and others just loaded as many stickers as they could.

Circle Stacks

The children were presented with multiple sizes of circles and glue. They were encouraged to start with a big circle on bottom and get smaller towards the top. Names were not written on these and they were all added to a mobile that I helped the children hot glue together in no particular order.

Paper Chains

The children were given strips of colorful construction paper, markers, stickers and glue sticks. They created one or many circle links and added them to a couple group chains. These were used to decorate the ceiling for the art show.

Mandalas

Many of the preschoolers were very interested in creating mandalas with loose parts and also on paper with markers. They were provided with space in the classroom to create and recreate them throughout the month. A few children created some prior to the art show to leave on display.

I believe in process art. I also believe that children should have the experience of being introduced to different methods that are used for creating art. The simplicity of using circles helps the children gain confidence as artists. We studied several famous artists that focus on circles in their artwork. Simply put, the children walked away with the message: